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Microsoft wraps up $1.2bn acquisition of Yammer

Company moves forward with integration plan

Microsoft has formally closed its $1.2bn acquisition of social networking firm Yammer, which will now become part of its Office unit.

"We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome the Yammer team to the Microsoft Office Division. We’re excited about the road ahead," Microsoft Office division senior director Jared Spataro said in a company blog post.

"We look forward to accelerating the adoption of Yammer’s standalone service, and enhancing the social capabilities in Microsoft’s communication and collaboration offerings."

Yammer, which operates a social network directed towards businesses and enterprise users. Microsoft has vowed to keep the Yammer service in tact as it looks to integrate other elements of the platform with Office.

While the deal could help to bring much-needed collaboration and networking features to the office brand, analysts have cautioned that keeping the Yammer brain trust in tact would be critical to the ultimate success of the deal.

The deal is the latest in a string of social networking acquisitions by large enterprise vendors, and some industry watchers believe that the deal could help to push the acquisition prospects of other social networking start-ups.